Kano Analysis:

Kano analysis is a quality measurement tool used to prioritize customer requirements based on their impact to customer satisfaction. It is used to determine which requirements are important. All identified requirements may not be of equal importance to all customers. Kano analysis can help you rank requirements for different customers to determine which have the highest priority.

Kano model can be used to help identify customer segments, based on the relative priority of each segment's requirements. Once segments have been defined, using both needs analysis and more tradition criteria such as gender, company size, etc., the Kano model can be re-applied to each segment to further defined the segment's priorities.

Briefly, Kano (a Japanese researcher), stated that there are four types of customer needs, or reactions to product characteristics / attributes:

1. The 'Surprise & Delight' factors. These really make your product stand out from the others.
E.g. A passenger jet that could take off vertically.

2. The 'More is Better'.
E.g. A jet airliner that uses a little less fuel than the competition.

3. The 'must be' things. Without this, you'll never sell the product.
E.g. A jet airliner that cannot meet airport noise regulations.

4. Finally, there are the 'dissatisfiers', the things that cause your customers not to like your product.
E.g. A jet airliner that is uncomfortable to ride in.